Kelvin a Senator

Ex Acadia Prez Kelvin Ogilvie was among today’s appointees to the Senate. Not much to say about it that hasn’t already been said, except that it seems a very good choice. Anyone who thought Rodney had anything better than a snowball’s chance in high summer was living in cloud-cuckoo land.

Jim Bickerton, political science professor at St. Francis Xavier University, said if people are going to be appointed to the Senate “hopefully they will be people who are well qualified. Kelvin Ogilvie was president of Acadia University. I have no doubt he has the expertise and intelligence to do a commendable job in the Senate.”

Mr. Bickerton said he wasn’t surprised that Rodney MacDonald was not appointed and would have been more surprised if he had been selected for the Senate.

“He is quite a young man (37) and an appointment at this young age would have meant for him more that 35 years in the Senate.” That may have factored into the decision, he said.

He also suggested that by accepting a Senate seat “you are pretty-well writing off re-entry into electoral politics. Senators never come out of the Senate to come back into politics. So at Rodney’s age to accept an appointment, and I don’t know if he was ever offered it, it really is an admission you are out….You kind of close that door,” he said.

Of course there will be complaints that the Conservatives are stacking the Senate. We remind them that even with all these recent appointments Conservative choices are outnumbered by Liberal appointees.